March Madness: Go Ahead...

March Madness: Go Ahead...

by Serendipitous | Published on March 20th, 2008, 10:25 pm | Sports

......the floor is open for talking smack. Cheer loud, cuss louder! :twisted:

So here we are with day one of Round 1 underway, and at the moment:

Kansas State is the only lower seed advancing to Round 2.

Four games are still in the second half of regulation play, except for UCLA and MS Valley State who are at the half... score? 40-16. Ouch.

Right now, there's about 6 minutes left in the game between GMU and Notre Dame... and it doesn't look like Mason is going to be wearing their glass slippers this year. GO IRISH!!!

Belmont definitely wasn't about to lie down and let Dook stomp on 'em. I missed out on various parts of that game, but second half was a nailbiter.

Soooooo, go have fun x'ing out the parts of your brackets that you got wrong and hope to Ceiling Cat that you do better in part deux of Round 1. :mrgreen:

Serendipitous wrote:......the floor is open for talking smack. Cheer loud, cuss louder!
<snip>
Belmont definitely wasn't about to lie down and let Dook stomp on 'em. I missed out on various parts of that game, but second half was a nailbiter.

This has happened quite often in Duke's past. I always compare such openers to 1986, when Johnny Dawkins and co were a #1 seed and came within a hair of getting beat by Mississippi Valley St... It was as if the floor was swarming with 6 or 7 little bitty Johnny Dawkinses, and the big, powerful Duke players were barely able to keep up. They won that round, barely, but then rolled on to the finals. And lost to freakin' Kentucky. :evil:

So sure. It was a scary game for the 5 fans they seem to have left. But it's March and insane things tend to happen. Yikes.

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:This has happened quite often in Duke's past. ... They won that round, barely, but then rolled on to the finals. And lost to freakin' Kentucky.

So what you're saying is Duke has a longstanding habit of thinking they're the s#!t, go into a game thinking it's in the bag, and have to turn it up when the lower seeded opponent proves that they too are in it to win it? :lol:

(Go Wildcats!) :twisted:

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:So sure. It was a scary game for the 5 fans they seem to have left.

You and your family, including da kittehs????

Serendipitous wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:This has happened quite often in Duke's past. ... They won that round, barely, but then rolled on to the finals. And lost to freakin' Kentucky.

So what you're saying is Duke has a longstanding habit of thinking they're the s#!t, go into a game thinking it's in the bag, and have to turn it up when the lower seeded opponent proves that they too are in it to win it? (Go Wildcats!)

It has happened a few times in the past. Tat's one reason the coach didn't panic last night, I expect. He's seen this sort of thing too often to get really scared by it. Unlike old Jerry Tarkanian, if you'll recall...

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:So sure. It was a scary game for the 5 fans they seem to have left.

You and your family, including da kittehs????

Well, a pair-o-kittehs. I'm not so sure where a few put their loyalty these days. :mrgreen:

Duke will have a hard time getting out of the weekend alive. I hope.

BecauseHeLives wrote:Duke will have a hard time getting out of the weekend alive. I hope.

I was REALLY pulling for Bellmont. I felt so bad for them at the end of the game.

So let's fast forward for a sec and share some predictions (or wishful thinking if you're SFI....yeah, that's what I said... :mrgreen:

):

who's your Final Four?
who's going to the Championship game?
who's going home with the Champion title?

My Final Four?

East: UNC
South: Texas
MidWest: Wisconsin
West: UCLA

Champs: I think it'll prolly by UNC, but I'd like to see Wisconsin as a SORT of Cinderella.

I missed Davidson upsetting Gonzaga, but I was able to catch Western Kentucky's OT win over Drake this afternoon. Ty Rogers shot a perfect 3-pointer to bring the final score to 101 - 99. Then there's the OT game where San Diego beat UConn by one point (70 -69). I don't even give a crap about San Diego, but I'm pretty tired of UConn.

My guess on the Final Four?
UNC
Georgetown
Texas
UCLA

My wishful Final Four?
Notre Dame (sorry, I can't root against the Irish even in favor of the Tarheels) :oops:

Georgetown
Texas
WVU

My Final Four has to be a Dook-free zone.

BecauseHeLives wrote:Duke will have a hard time getting out of the weekend alive. I hope.

Dook going home!!!

You know, in all the years that I have been following Duke athletics -- and consequently being anti-Tar Heel -- I have NEVER rubbed their teams' failures in the faces of their fans. Oh I might have cheered their losses among my family members, but I have not gone to my Tar Heel friends and said "Well, you guys really sucked in that game."

I just wish that all fans of rival teams (including the Duke faithful, I'm sad to say) could say the same, but I know that problem exists everywhere.

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:...I have NEVER rubbed their teams' failures in the faces of their fans. Oh I might have cheered their losses among my family members, but I have not gone to my Tar Heel friends and said "Well, you guys really sucked in that game."

I just wish that all fans of rival teams (including the Duke faithful, I'm sad to say) could say the same, but I know that problem exists everywhere.

See, my friends and I do taunt each other, but all in jest. And then it would be followed by, "Seriously though, sorry about the game." If I had been thinking about how my post would have been received by you or other Duke fans, I would have said more than one line in my response to BHL.

SFI, this is a sincere apology to you: I'm sorry if my last post seemed like rubbing it in your face.

Serendipitous wrote:See, my friends and I do taunt each other, but all in jest. And then it would be followed by, "Seriously though, sorry about the game." If I had been thinking about how my post would have been received by you or other Duke fans, I would have said more than one line in my response to BHL.

SFI, this is a sincere apology to you: I'm sorry if my last post seemed like rubbing it in your face.

Don't worry, friend. I realize that I'm a wet blanket when it comes to talkin' trash about sports. I stopped that in 1978, when the Duke men got to the championship game for the first time that I could remember, then got their heads handed to them. That's sort of a drawback, you know, to being old. :cry:

It was a very interesting weekend of basketball, overall.

Go Davidson! I wonder if they'll be this year's George Mason?

Kudos to W. Kentucky, Siena, Belmont and Butler. These are the teams that people hope to see on the first weekend of the tournament.

And please... don't forget the other tournaments going on with Div 1 teams: the NIT, Women's NCAA and Women's NIT.

The ACC got 6 teams into the NCAA on the women's side. Fl State got in as an 11 seed, but they upset Ohio St Saturday, and they'll be playing Oklahoma St tonight. The only loss in the first round for the ACC was Georgia Tech (seeded 10th) losing to Iowa St. by 3. So hey... there's some good hoops to watch tonight and tomorrow night on ESPN.

And Duke gets to play Arizona St tomorrow -- the team they would have played in the regional finals last year, if it hadn't been for that unmentionable game in the prior round. It'll be interesting to see how the Blue Devils fare against them. They're a better team this year than they were last year, I think. I'm looking forward to it.

Well... I have something in common with Serendipitous: we both still have teams alive in the NCAA tournament, on the ladies' side of the world.

Notre Dame took on last year's player of the year (Courtney Paris) and mighty Oklahoma, and defeated them in OT. Duke got a serious challenge from the Sun Devils of Arizona St, but never let them actually get the lead.

So this coming weekend, in the Sweet Sixteen round, Duke will go up against Texas A&M (which got beat very early in the season by lowly Wake Forest -- but they got much better since then, obviously), and Notre Dame gets the plum job of taking on Tennessee. Yikes.

Another up side for the women's tournament: the ACC still has three teams up and running after 2 rounds of play. Sadly, Greensboro's regional lost the last team last night when Virginia lost in OT to Old Dominion. Bummer... UNC had a pretty easy time of it in their sub-regional, and most likely won't have any problems until they get to a likely Elite Eight match-up with LSU. Maryland... well, they think they'll be much better off once they get away from their home fans next week. They'll need to be if they expect to get another trip to the Final Four.

Play on, ladies!

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:That's sort of a drawback, you know, to being old.

1. You're calling yourself old. blah blah blah
2. If you're looking sympathy, look in the dictionary between s#!t and syphylis.

:mrgreen:

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:Well... I have something in common with Serendipitous: we both still have teams alive in the NCAA tournament, on the ladies' side of the world.
...

Play on, ladies!

Thanks, SFI, for keeping us informed! I'm sure chicks (like Rebecca Lobo) dig that you support all the WNBA hopefuls! :wink:

Back to men's bb, Sweet 16: bracket at CNN.com Thoughts? Predictions? Delusions? :lol:

Serendipitous wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:Well... I have something in common with Serendipitous: we both still have teams alive in the NCAA tournament, on the ladies' side of the world.
...

Play on, ladies!

Thanks, SFI, for keeping us informed! I'm sure chicks (like Rebecca Lobo) dig that you support all the WNBA hopefuls!

Back to men's bb, Sweet 16: bracket at CNN.com Thoughts? Predictions? Delusions?

Winners in sweet 16

UNC
Kansas
WVU
Louisville
Davidson
Stanford
UCLA
Stanford

Of course I'll be happy if I get just one right.

BecauseHeLives wrote:Winners in sweet 16

UNC
Kansas
WVU
Louisville
Davidson
Stanford
UCLA
Stanford

Of course I'll be happy if I get just one right.

I really wanted to see BHL's Mountaineers win it! Even though they didn't win, they played a helluva a game ... down 14 -28 in the first half and reducing the deficit to 7 points by halftime, then going to OT!

March 28th, 2008, 7:06 am

BecauseHeLives wrote::cry:

That game is in the past now... time to move on... so say it with me...

GO TARHEELS!

:lol:

Serendipitous wrote:That game is in the past now... time to move on... so say it with me...

GO TARHEELS!

I'd be happy to say that... but with a slightly different meaning in mind. :mrgreen:

Zounds. Looks like "March Madness" turned into April Insanity pretty thoroughly last night. You'd think that with 4 number 1 seeds in the Final Four, the games would have been a bit closer...

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:You'd think that with 4 number 1 seeds in the Final Four, the games would have been a bit closer...

You might think that, but I couldn't possibly say it! :wink:

Unbelievable game between Carolina and Kansas... I sent Roy a txt during halftime:
"Winning - you're doing it wrong."
It seemed to work for a little until the last 5 minutes of the game.

Serendipitous wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:You'd think that with 4 number 1 seeds in the Final Four, the games would have been a bit closer...

You might think that, but I couldn't possibly say it!

Unbelievable game between Carolina and Kansas... I sent Roy a txt during halftime:
"Winning - you're doing it wrong."
It seemed to work for a little until the last 5 minutes of the game.